Posted on August 26, 2016

Explaining the ‘Alt-Right’ Movement That’s Emerging as a Force in the 2016 Race

Meghan Keneally, ABC News, August 26, 2016

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The “alt-right,” which is shorthand for the “alternative right,” is composed of many far-right ideologies.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that monitors hate groups, defines the alt-right as “a set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice‘ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”

One of the best-known members of the alt-right is Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance, which he has described as a white advocacy organization.

Taylor spoke to ABC News and said that he genuinely is happy about the attention that the alt-right is getting in light of the “dishonest ploy” that the Clinton campaign is using against Donald Trump.

“We weren’t counting on Hillary for being so generous in sharing the spotlight with us,” he said, referring to Clinton’s speech on the alt-right this afternoon.

American Renaissance’s website put up a pop-up window hours before Clinton’s speech today that reads, “If you have come to this site because of Hillary Clinton‘s speech about the ‘Alt Right,’ welcome. American Renaissance is certainly part of the Alt Right, but the movement is varied and diverse, and we do not fully define it. Let us introduce ourselves.”

Taylor identifies as being a member of the alt-right and described it as “a dissident movement” where “the prevailing orthodoxy about race is that it is an insignificant phenomenon.”

“It’s quite clear to us that the races are not equivalent and interchangeable,” he said, arguing that if you were to take a majority white country and “replace it with Syrians and Zulus and Guatemalans and Cambodians, you wouldn’t have the same country.”

Taylor went on to say, “I personally cannot think of any reason why we need more Muslims,” in talking about immigration in the United States.

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Taylor admitted that it’s “absolutely impossible to say” how large the movement is, but said “it is growing very rapidly, no question about that.”

“I would say that there are millions of Americans who subscribe to the alt-right philosophies. But the vast majority of them can’t afford to be public,” Taylor said. “Despite all of this nonsense that we are a tolerant society, there are certain views on which it [American society] is absolutely intolerant of diversity.”

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